Analysis

DEPTH CHARTS FEATURE - What Ourlads NFL Scouting Services said before SOLOMON THOMAS made the San Francisco 49ers' depth chart: Stanford, 6025 273 4.70. Underclass entry from Coppell, TX. Morris Award as the top defensive player in the Pac-12 Conference. Earned first-team All-Pac 12 honors last fall, leading the team with 15 tackles for loss. Thomas is a full grown, play effort football man who plays with violent and physical hands. Explosive when he lines up inside. Comes off on the “S” of the snap and blows up whatever is in front of him. An aggressive and quick twitch competitor who will make plenty of plays just on grit and hustle. Quick and strong when leveraging the blocker as he’s pushing the pocket. Locks out and shivers the blocker. He can move a blocker like a Rogers’ blocking sled. He’s quicker in a phone booth area than Kevin James signing up for a butter convention. He can spin off an overaggressive blocker. Sudden change of direction. Strong finisher. Swallows ball carriers and drives them to the ground. Versatile threat against the run and pass. Match-up problem inside and out, extreme lateral quickness. Sees and splits a lot of double teams. Plays with enthusiasm and vigor. Probably not big enough to play inside all game to take beatings from 320-pound giants. Doesn’t have ideal edge length to play outside all game, but moving him around is the answer. Whoever drafts Thomas should have an oxygen tank on the sidelines or give him some rotation time because he plays so hard. Former five star recruit evolved in to a one man wrecking crew for the Cardinal defensive line. A plus-plus run defender who shows enormous upside as an interior pass rusher, Thomas has the look of a guy who can be moved around the line to exploit match-ups. His best role may be in a 3-4 scheme at defensive end, but his style of play can be used all over. A creative defensive mind could do wonders with him. 2016 stats: 62 T, 15 TFL, 8 sacks, 7 QBH, 1 FF, 1 FR. Edge speed:left 1.83, right 1.83. OSR:3/40. First round. (A-33, H-9 3/8, BP-30, 10-1.63).